By Alex Drummond, Editor-in-Chief · June 30, 2026 · Fact-checked by Maya Chen
Day 36 of the 2026 World Series of Poker brought a Monday-night coronation. Michael 'The Grinder' Mizrachi, the 45-year-old Hall of Famer and defending Main Event champion, won Event #70, the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship, for his ninth career WSOP gold bracelet and a US$1,350,203 first-place prize. The win makes Mizrachi just the eighth player in the World Series's 56-year history to reach nine bracelets, joining Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, Erik Seidel, Johnny Moss, and Benny Glaser. Mizrachi ties Glaser and Moss for sixth-most on the all-time WSOP bracelet-winners list.
Mizrachi entered three-handed play with 40,225,000 chips and 80 per cent of the chips in play, a 161-big-blind lead that proved insurmountable for Indian high-stakes regular Zarvan Tumboli and American mid-stakes professional Michael Hahn. Hahn went out third for US$627,832 after running aces-and-deuces into Mizrachi's middle set in a 10-million-chip pot. The two-handed contest between Mizrachi and Tumboli lasted just over an hour before the final hand.
The final hand: a four-card suckout
The final hand of the tournament came after a Tumboli all-in pre-flop holding A-A-6-3 double-suited against Mizrachi's J-10-7-6 double-suited. The board ran J-8-8 on the flop, putting Tumboli a 3-to-1 favourite at the time the all-in pot was committed, with Mizrachi needing a jack or a nine to win. The 4 of clubs turn gave Mizrachi four more outs (any nine, except clubs to avoid Tumboli's club potential), and the 9 of spades river made his jack-high straight and the bracelet. Mizrachi was a roughly 25 per cent favourite to win the hand on the flop and converted.
'Last year, on June 29, I won the PPC,' Mizrachi said in his post-match table interview. 'And it's June 29, 2026, and we won something different. I wanted to change it up a little bit. I just push myself harder and harder. This year I got my health back, I feel much better. Lost 40 pounds since last main event, training twice a day, so I feel good. I've never felt any better than this, at 45.' Mizrachi's quote was a callback to his 2025 WSOP run, when he won the $50,000 Poker Players Championship for a record fourth time on June 29, 2025, before going on to win the Main Event later that summer.
The full $10,000 PLO Championship final-table payouts
Mizrachi's path to the bracelet included eliminations of bracelet winners Toby Joyce, Jesse Lonis, Ian Matakis, and Martin Zamani at the official final table alone. The 836-entry field had generated a US$7,774,800 prize pool, with the top 126 finishers cashing. Toronto's Ari Engel finished 10th on the final-table bubble for US$80,636 in a double-knockout alongside American Joshua Barney (also 10th by chip stack, payout US$80,636).
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Mizrachi | United States | $1,350,203 |
| 2 | Zarvan Tumboli | India | $900,088 |
| 3 | Michael Hahn | United States | $627,832 |
| 4 | Martin Zamani | United States | $445,080 |
| 5 | Ian Matakis | United States | $320,763 |
| 6 | Raj Vohra | United States | $235,073 |
| 7 | Jesse Lonis | United States | $175,233 |
| 8 | Toby Joyce | Ireland | $132,908 |
| 9 | Aaron Kupin | United States | $102,599 |
| 10 to 11 | Ari Engel / Joshua Barney | Canada / United States | $80,636 |
Event #70 $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship final-table payouts. Source: Card Player's "Michael Mizrachi Wins WSOP $10,000 PLO Title, Ninth Bracelet".
The Mizrachi milestones
The US$1,350,203 first-place prize is the sixth-largest single result of Mizrachi's career, behind the 2025 Main Event (US$10,000,000 first prize), the 2022 $50,000 PPC (US$1,503,690), the 2018 $50,000 PPC (US$1,239,126), the 2012 $50,000 PPC (US$1,451,527), and the 2010 $50,000 PPC (US$1,559,046). Career WSOP earnings now stand at US$15,250,000 across 156 cashes and the new ninth bracelet. Total live tournament earnings exceed US$30.6-million, moving Mizrachi past Brian Rast and Chris Brewer into 20th place on the Hendon Mob's all-time money list. His 2,500 Card Player Player of the Year points place him 65th in the year-long race, and his 1,220 PokerGO Tour points lead the 2026 PGT season.
| Year | Event | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | $50,000 Poker Players Championship | $1,559,046 |
| 2012 | $50,000 Poker Players Championship | $1,451,527 |
| 2018 | $50,000 Poker Players Championship | $1,239,126 |
| 2022 | $50,000 Poker Players Championship | $1,503,690 |
| 2024 | $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em (Event #29) | $316,571 |
| 2025 | $50,000 Poker Players Championship | $1,331,322 |
| 2025 | $10,000 Main Event Championship | $10,000,000 |
| 2025 | $1,500 Mixed Big Bet (Event #30) | $148,950 |
| 2026 | $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship | $1,350,203 |
Michael Mizrachi's nine WSOP gold bracelet wins, by year and event. Source: WSOP.com player profile for Michael Mizrachi.
The two-bracelet sweep across the 2025 and 2026 summers also marks Mizrachi as the third player in WSOP history to win two bracelets at the same series following his Hall of Fame induction. The other two are Stu Ungar (1980 and 1981 Main Events) and Doyle Brunson (1976 and 1977 Main Events). Mizrachi's 2025 induction was unanimous, the result of his second-most-prolific WSOP year ever and the historic Main Event title. His 2026 ninth-bracelet bid was widely projected before the festival, but the PPC bust on Day 1B in May had threatened the bracelet-defence script.
Defending the Main Event from a position of strength
Mizrachi enters Thursday's WSOP Main Event opener (Day 1A at noon Pacific, July 2 at the Horseshoe and Paris) as the defending champion. Historic precedent for back-to-back Main Event titles is thin: Stu Ungar took the 1980 and 1981 titles, Johnny Chan took the 1987 and 1988, and Doyle Brunson took the 1976 and 1977. The four-time PPC champion enters with strong recent form, an established Main Event-deep run, and a 'health-first' physical training regimen he attributes for his 2025-2026 run of results. The Main Event field is expected to draw approximately 11,800 entries to a US$11,800-plus prize pool, with the eventual Main Event champion earning approximately US$11,500,000.
What else closed and continues on Day 36
Three other events ran active sessions Monday. Event #63, the $1,000 Mystery Millions, plays its Day 3 from 1:00 p.m. local Tuesday with the field expected to play down to a final five who return Wednesday for the bracelet day. The Day 3 chip-leader list is dominated by bracelet-holding professionals, with American David 'ODB' Baker bagging 75,800,000 chips and American Joey Weissman 47,500,000. No Canadian-flag player appears in the published top 30 chip count. The 22,811-entry field set the all-time $1,000 WSOP record on Sunday.
Event #74, the $1,500 8-Game Mixed, played its Day 2 session through Monday afternoon and evening from a 147-player Day 1 cut. Toronto's Devon Sampson, who had bagged second on Day 1 with 515,000 chips, continued his deep run, the live blog confirmed. Daniel Negreanu, who had bagged fourth on Day 1 with 378,500 chips, also survived through the bagged Day 3 cut. Chip counts will be published Tuesday morning by PokerNews. The 8-Game Mixed plays its Day 3 Tuesday with 12 levels of 80-minute play scheduled to reach the official final eight; bracelet day is Wednesday. The eventual winner takes approximately US$181,625 of the US$1,016,865 prize pool, with 115 players guaranteed to cash.
Event #72, the $1,000 Mini Main Event, played its Day 1B flight Monday with American Travis Taylor still in the chip lead at 3,285,000 chips after Day 1A. Day 1B bagged 218 of an additional 1,387 entries; the cumulative field through both flights now stands at 2,518. Event #71, the $2,500 Mixed Big Bet (PLO and No-Limit 2-7 Single Draw), saw Japan's Naoya Kihara, the 2026 Five Card PLO bracelet winner, eliminated 5th place for US$30,156. Romanian recreational professional Adrian Tatu took the Mixed Big Bet bracelet for US$211,840.
Canadian summer 2026 ledger
The Canadian summer 2026 ledger remains at three bracelets (Foxen $25K HR, Alcindor Big O, Normand PLO Hi-Lo) and US$2,395,570 in combined first-place prize money, unchanged. With the Monaco brothers' US$88,058 Tag Team split, Engel's US$80,636 PLO Championship 10th, and minor cashes from Negreanu's $25K High Roller PLO/NLH Mixed seventh ($152,954) and Cedolia's Five Card PLO fifth ($66,610), the cumulative notable cashes total approximately US$3,189,000 plus Engel's US$80,636 now reads approximately US$3,270,000.
For Ontario players watching from home, the WSOP Main Event opener is Thursday at noon Pacific time on the PokerGO and WSOP+ streams; the 2026 WSOP Super Circuit Montreal qualifier path on GGPoker Ontario remains active for satellites through August 19; the regulated Ontario market overview is on the best poker sites in Ontario page; and the WSOP Super Circuit Montreal opens August 26 at Playground Poker Club in Kahnawake, Quebec.